Like Baby Island for the 1937 Club, I was astonished to find that Erich Kästner’s Lisa and Lottie was published much earlier than I had thought — actually, I was rather surprised to find that there was a book at all, since I was quite familiar with the 1961 Disney movie “The Parent Trap” , and I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning an original novel, either about that movie or the multiple sequels and remakes. But there it is. Lisa and Lottie, or in its original German Das Doppelte Lottchen, is about identical twins whose parents, upon divorcing, each take one of the girls and are determined not to reveal to their twin the existence of the other.
But, being a humorous novel for children, obviously they find out, in this case at summer camp, where each is determined to hate the other until they realize the truth. The girls quickly come to the conclusion that the best course is for them to bring their mother and father back together, and so they spend the rest of their days at camp with Lisa learning how to “be” Lottie, and Lottie Lisa.
Things back home seem to be going fairly smoothly, though Father, a composer and conductor in Vienna, is a bit surprised at “Lisa”‘s sudden talent for cooking. All is not quite well, however.
Girls have a way of knowing when something is wrong. When fathers talk of children’s operas and never speak of stylish young ladies, their daughters know which way the wind is blowing.
Enter, of course, that Miss Gerlach, wicked-stepmother-in-training.
This is the first English translation of Kästner’s book, from 1962, and I’m a bit curious to read the 2014 one by Anthea Bell, as the prose seems more than a bit spare, even for an audience of ten-year-olds. Aside from the mind-boggling decision by the parents to separate their twins to the point of not even telling them of the other’s existence, it’s an amusing story in which, as it were, the journey and not the arrival is what matters, as it is pretty obvious at most points which way things are going to go!
I read this one via the Internet Archive. Our host Simon’s review for today, and links to reviews from other readers, can be found here.
Simon’s own book review for today, and links to those of other readers in the 1949 Club, can be found here.
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